Including women in Malaysia’s economic plans

The government must implement policies outlined in the mid-term review of the 11th Malaysian Plan.

Inclusive economic institutions provide foundations upon which inclusive political institutions can flourish, while inclusive political institutions restrict deviations away from inclusive economic institutions. Acemoglu and Robinson

THE State of Households 2018: Different Realities recently published by Khazanah Research Institute provided a comprehensive data-backed outlook to realities in Malaysia. While overall inequality in Malaysia appears to be decreasing, the perception that “the rich gets richer while the poor gets poorer” cannot be shaken off.

The report presented data in more granularity than what was previously published, challenging the perception that moving to urban centres especially Kuala Lumpur can fulfil the promise of upward social mobility.

Sadly, our wages are still playing catch-up and it seems that the bounties of our nation’s economic growth are not shared more inclusively, instead they seemingly continue to benefit our country’s elites.

Who would have thought that in 2018 Malaysia, access to pipe water is still below 30% in Sabah, Sarawak and even Kelantan (with data from 2016)? More worryingly, to my knowledge, this issue was not played up politically and has not even gained any attention in Malaysian social and official media.

The report further highlights the need for education reform and increasing women’s labour participation rate. Importantly, the report hypothesized that raising women’s employment rate by 30% would raise Malaysia’s GDP by 7 to 12% but we have yet to address the issue of ‘disappearing women’ in more senior, managerial, and decision-making positions.

In the same week as this report’s publication, we saw news of a young girl who died giving birth in the bathroom of her house, where her parents and even herself were oblivious to her pregnancy. We are also still waiting for child marriage to be banned altogether, and still hoping against hope that the current 18% representation of women in our Cabinet is able to highlight issues of women empowerment as part of our nation’s rebuilding narrative. How does this all tie together? In their book, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty; Acemoglu and Robinson said, “Inclusive economic institutions require not just markets, but inclusive markets that create a level playing field and economic opportunities for the majority of the people. Widespread monopoly, backed by the political power of the elite, contradicts this.

But the reaction to the monopoly trusts also illustrates that when political institutions are inclusive, they create a countervailing force against movements away from inclusive markets. This is the virtuous circle in action.

Inclusive economic institutions provide foundations upon which inclusive political institutions can flourish, while inclusive political institutions restrict deviations away from inclusive economic institutions.”

While their book did not tackle gender equality specifically, it did emphasise the need for inclusive political and economic institutions, more so to prevent the slippery slope towards a failed nation. In Malaysia’s case, powerful men make up the monopoly that continues to place structural barriers to exclude women, be it politically, economically and even in social space.

We continue to see young unwed mothers stigmatised and sometimes charged with a fine and a record of Shariah criminal offence for having fallen pregnant, leading to sad cases such as the recent death in Parit Buntar. We allow our daughters to be married off, adding a barrier to these girls to access education, risking their health due to increased chances of pregnancy at such a young age, and reducing their chances for upward social mobility.

We continue to place the burden of household chores and parenting, what the State of Households report elegantly put forth as ‘reproductive economy’ solely on women.

While women make up a higher percentage of graduands, female degree holders are still paid remarkably lower than their male counterparts — 23.3% or RM1,498 to be exact; the reasons as to why women are not paid the same as men despite having the same or higher qualifications were left unexplored.

In households without access to clean water, the burden to gain access to water for household needs falls on women. We can allude to this as we romanticise images of women washing clothes in the rivers in our history textbooks.

In his speech presenting the mid-term review of the 11th Malaysian Plan, Dr Mahathir presented the new government’s policies that will focus on inclusive economy and increasing women’s labour participation. What we need now is a strong political will by our government to implement these policies, and for us, the citizens, to keep the government in check.

Including women in a nation’s economy should be more than providing childcare centres and allowing for flexible working arrangements. We must normalise seeing women as high-level decision makers, we need to encourage more women to participate in politics and be appointed as ministers.

We need to amend unjust laws, especially those that target women and affect women – be it a Shariah criminal offence for being pregnant or family inheritance laws that prevent women from inheriting wealth. We need sexual harassment laws that punish the perpetrators, not the victims.

We need to educate our boys and men on sharing household and parenting responsibility. We must no longer define career prospects as “feminine” or “masculine” and abolish toxic masculinity.

We must work towards a more inclusive nation, with women contributing equally in determining the trajectory of our nation.